ROSEAU, DOMINICA, CMC – Three years after Loreen Bannis-Roberts was embroiled in a controversy as Dominica’s permanent representative to the United Nations, she has now been appointed as her island’s new High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, in announcing a news conference on Thursday, said Bannis-Roberts, 59, brings a wealth of experience and distinguished service to this important diplomatic role.
Loreen Bannis-Roberts
He stated that from 2016 to 2022, she served as Dominica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where she represented the country’s interests at the highest levels of international diplomacy.
“In that capacity, she was a strong advocate for sustainable development, disaster resilience, and the unique challenges of Small Island Developing States (SIDS),” Skerrit said.
However, she resigned from that position after signing a document establishing diplomatic relations between Dominica and Syria, which Roseau claimed it was unaware of.
Prime Minister Skerrit said then that after discussions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and senior government officials and lawyers, he immediately summoned a meeting with Bannis-Roberts at his office in person on March 17, 2022, and “as a result, she has tendered her resignation from the post which he has accepted…”
But as he named her as the island’s new diplomat in Britain, Prime Minister Skerrit said that he is confident that she “will effectively represent Dominica in London.
“Her leadership and diplomatic skills will be critical in strengthening Dominica’s longstanding relationship with the United Kingdom, advancing our foreign policy priorities and addressing outstanding issues of importance to both our countries,” he said, wishing her “every success as she assumes this important responsibility”.
He said Bannis-Roberts, a married mother of three children, will, in “due time, present her credentials to King Charles”.
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